World Screen

LONDON: Passion Distribution has secured a second-season pickup for its docu-series Too Fat for 15: Fighting Back from UKTV’s Watch, and will be launching the new season at MIPTV. The series, which comes from Daisybeck Productions in association with Passion, …

NEW YORK: A&E Television Networks (AETN) has placed new programming heads for its three flagship brands, with Rob Sharenow leading Lifetime, David McKillop in charge of A&E and Dirk Hoogstra responsible for HISTORY. Sharebow has been serving as senior VP …

OSLO: FOX International Channels (FIC) is bringing its FOX Crime service to Norwegian viewers starting March 21 on Riks TV and Altibox. The crime and investigation network joins FIC’s existing Norwegian and Scandinavian portfolio, which includes National Geographic Channel, National …

LOS ANGELES/PARIS: The first edition of DISCOP Istanbul drew in 511 delegates, representing 283 companies from 39 countries. The inaugural event hosted 142 companies over the three-day market, with 32 percent coming from the Greater Middle East and North Africa, …

PARIS: Eleven finalists have been selected for the CC Ventures competition at MIPTV, where they will pitch their projects to an expert jury during the Connected Creativity event. The new startup competition targets innovation in connected entertainment. The CC Ventures finalists, …

NEW YORK: Syfy has issued a second-season pickup of its hit drama series Being Human. The series stars Sam Witwer, Meaghan Rath, Sam Huntington and Mark Pellegrino and centers on three supernatural roommates—a vampire, a ghost and a werewolf—who share …

LONDON/BURBANK: Following a pilot commission last year, ABC has ordered a full U.S. version of the Endemol format 101 Ways to Leave a Gameshow to air in prime time. The U.S. treatment will be hosted by Jeff Sutphen (BrainSurge) and …

BERLIN: Germany’s antitrust regulator has officially blocked plans by RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 to set up a joint online video platform, citing that the service may be "harmful to competition." Andreas Mundt, the president of the Federal Cartel Office, said in a …

UNIVERSAL CITY: NBC has renewed three of its hit Thursday night comedies, The Office, Parks & Recreation and Community, for the 2011-12 season. Emmy Award-winning The Office averages 7.7 million viewers in the season to date, while Parks and Recreation …

NEW YORK: Total U.S. advertising expenditures for 2010 increased 6.5 percent, according to data from Kantar Media, finishing the year at $131.1 billion. In the fourth quarter, ad spending was up 7 percent over the year prior. Expenditures on spot …